Some years ago I was a volunteer at a planetarium. The previous operators of the planetarium had made a huge mess of the wiring (120V running through ribbon cable ), and we were trying to clean it up and rip out all of the not-to-code and unneeded stuff. I went up into the attic to trace some wires that ran around the outside of the planetarium dome. I had been in the attic before, but only in the area around the access, where it was floored. I got about halfway around the dome, looking up at the top to see where some wires went, and I did not realize that the attic floor did not go all the way around...

Next thing I knew, I was taking a header through the drop ceiling. Somehow I managed to twist myself around in midair and I landed on the concrete floor of the planetarium on my rear end, just missing the projector console. The flashlight I had in my hand hit the edge of the console and was smashed to bits -- fortunately, the console wasn't damaged. My only injury was a cut on my ear caused by the ceiling grid. After I got my ear to stop bleeding, it occurred to me that it wasn't such a good idea for me to be there doing that work alone.

I took out a faucet stem without shutting off the water. I think I was actually able to screw it back in with the water on, with much difficulty. Unfortunately, I didn't learn anything from the experience. I already knew to turn it off and just forgot.

More recently, I walked about 5 blocks home with two sheets of drywall on a dolly and forgot to check the weather forecast for wind. My finger still hurts more than a week later from trying to push and steer in the wind. And I was actually looking for drywall that wasn't ultralight because I wanted the standard kind. I'm glad I didn't find it.

Ouch, that hammer to the head injury is bad! and people at work leave stuff like and Makita cordless drills that on top of ladders all the time...
Not me, but a guy I work with was cutting small boards on the sliding table saw just before xmas a year ago and putting the cut pieces on a cart and reaching back for another board.
Somehow or other I think he tossed the drop-off over into the bin on the other side of the saw, turned to get another board and his fingers just brushed the blade.
The injury was bad enough- basically caught and "de-gloved" the end of his forefinger to the bone, and cut part of the middle and ring fingers too.
The result was he lost 50% of the index finger, and about 25% of his middle finger, they basically had to amputate at the joints due to the cartilage, vein and nerve damage even though the bone wasn't cut through.

He was out of work for many weeks, in physical therapy, and they almost had to do mor surgery when one of the amputations was not healing well, but now after a year his injuries healed fine, and no more sensitivity/pain.

Only took one moment of inattention, and even though his fingers were not actually cut off, there was enough tissue damage they had to be amputated.

They say the radial arm saw is probably THE most dangerous saw in a woodshop, but any machine with a rotating blade will do the job if you have just one moment of inattention and get careless!

I hit my head once or twice using a ladder by a doorway. The last time I woke up the next morning dizzy for about a minute before getting out of bed. And now I'm working on a closet and soffet so it could happen again. I'm considering getting a hard hat or Halo supplemental head padding for a baseball cap.

I hit my head once or twice using a ladder by a doorway. The last time I woke up the next morning dizzy for about a minute before getting out of bed. And now I'm working on a closet and soffet so it could happen again. I'm considering getting a hard hat or Halo supplemental head padding for a baseball cap.

Only thing about wearing a hard hat is that you'll bang your head more because you don't compensate for the extra height of the hard hat. While you may not hurt your head, you can hurt your neck if you hit something hard enough!

Bought a new compressor, went home, plugged it into the wall, went in the house for dinner. Went back out to the garage after and I was showing my sister how to use an air nailer and compressor. I was at the point of, if theres no air in the tank it won't shoot a nail, I thought I would show her by holding the gun against my thumb and pulling the trigger (since I didn't turn it on I knew there was no air in it), BAM! Shot the nail into my thumb. My sister looked at me and said "I turned it on earlier so it was ready to go"

I always wear gloves and I mean ALWAYS. I even become the nagging wife when the hubby doesn't put his on. Waltzed down the back half of the house to see yesterdays painting efforts now that its dry (looking good) and came across the bathroom fan I removed yesterday...yup you guessed it decided to pick it up and move it. 1 inch long gash to the bone later on my finger when it slipped out of my hand. And if that wasn't enough, when things settled down I was installing some 2 x 4 blocking for the new fan and the drill slipped and before I could turn off the trigger it had drilled a hole in the opposite hands glove (yup at least I put them on then) and was busy trying to separate my hand from my wrist by twisting the glove around. At that point I quit....didn't want to get to the three strikes your out boo boo.

Decided to make a cutout in a closet for my hand to help feed coax to the jack. Stuck hand in jack to make an outline for the top cut. Took down drywall to finish the outline (because it's hard to make an outline with your hand half way in a one gang hole) but made the outline above the line instead of below. I guess I'll raise the bracket for my hand so it matches the hole. Or something else.

Several years ago. I was trying to remove some rust from an antique, I had a 3/8 inch drill mounted in a vise with a wire brush inserted into the drill. I put on an apron to keep from getting dirty, Did not tie the apron behind me. As I was busy removing the rust, my apron got caught up in the wire brush. Twisted the apron up around my neck and I could not breathe. I pulled away and the drill came out of the vise, now it was really getting twisted up in my apron and I eventually ( 5 sec.) pulled the drill out of the wall outlet. Now I still could not breathe and panic was setting in. I finally got the drill untwisted. but my neck looked like someone was trying to hang me. I Never did this again. and even today I have my wife stand by when I am working with my grinder/wire wheel

While talking with someone I was changing bits in my Hammer Drill, I stuck the chuck key into the chuck and as I turned it (drill was still plugged in), my other finger pressed the trigger and WHAM-O, the chuck key about broke my finger which was holding the key.

It just happened that they guy next to me in the emergency room had slipped with his cordless drill that subsequently continued to spin into the palm of his other hand.

Good lord, was that ME sitting there?

YES, I did have an unfortunate moment of cognitive dysfunction when I was using my cordless and a Hole-Saw. I went to tighten the chuck by holding the saw in my left hand, and popping the trigger with my right. Unfortunately, I was cupping the saw by its teeth in the palm of my left hand

The oddest thing: I noticed that I had used the wrong method only after the trigger was pulled, when pain and blood came rushing forth.

I don't recall how many stitches, but I do recall the E-Room staff looking, pointing, and laughing in my direction

Last summer I was putting some gorgeous old barn wood on the inside of my shop end walls. I was finishing off the job by putting a piece of wood along the top from the peak down to the wall and the final piece was about 18" long. The extension ladder wouldn't fit well so instead of leaning it against the sidewall, I had the brilliant idea to just bring the bottom of the ladder about 8 feet out from the wall and in essence use it as a ramp. What could go wrong? I climbed up with the board in one hand and a nailgun in the other. What made this barn wood particularly nice was the slight green tint from the moss that had grown on it. It also made it quite slippery.

As I positioned the final board of the job, the ladder lost its grip and brought me to the concrete floor below in rapid fashion. Shaken and bloody, I was determined to finish the job. I leaned the ladder up on the sidewall and realized that I had cut the angles wrong and the "ugly side" was showing. I made a new piece and crawled up but found that my left arm was not able to hold the weight up and I kept dropping it. I was also keenly aware that my elbow was swelling badly. I had to go get an X-ray a few days later and it showed a nasty fracture. Six weeks later I was able to return to work.

Got done welding a rack for my trailer. Took my gloves off because I was "done." And since I was "done," I went to go pick up the rack I had just welded. Of course, even though it wasn't red anymore, it was still hot enough to burn me.

Another time, I was up in the attic running a wire for a new socket in the hallway. I had turned off the power to the attic, pulled the outlet out of the box, decided that wouldn't be the best place to tap power, turned the power back on to the attic with the socket still hanging out of the box (that was my first mistake) so the light up there would work and allow me to see. I got the hall socket installed (ended up cutting into a live wire that was not part of the circuit I thought it was, but that's a different story entirely...) and was in the process of cleaning everything up. Went to put the attic socket back into its box... with the power still on... and with the light still on clearly indicating the power was on... and got shocked. Just wasn't thinking, I guess.